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SAN DIEGO — Increases in truck tonnage and freight rates should make trucking executives happy, but the long-festering driver shortage has mushroomed to such a critical level that fleet managers meeting here said they either have made or may soon make radical changes in how they operate.

SAN DIEGO — Leaders of American Trucking Associations meeting here said they have put themselves in the best position to successfully see long overdue highway funding and other legislation passed, while preventing what they view as an explosion of burdensome regulations.

We strive to interact directly with those who have the most influence on the trucking and freight transportation industry, so we thank Scott Darling III, acting chief of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, for speaking with Transport Topics last week.

The latest weekly load board reports from DAT and Internet Truck Stop showed modest changes on a sequential basis.

August’s truck tonnage index jumped 4.5% from a year ago to a record 132.6 reading, American Trucking Associations said Sept. 23.

Shippers can expect to pay more to secure freight-hauling capacity as truck and rail carriers raise rates to cover rising costs and to fund investments in equipment and infrastructure, according to transportation and logistics executives.

Top executives and industry experts plan to explore ways business leaders and government officials can work to relieve congestion along the country’s aging transportation network during a panel discussion Oct. 4-7 at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition in San Diego.

Officials of trucking-management software vendor TMW Systems Inc. last week outlined steps the company is taking to smooth internal operations and user experiences, and several of its associated plug-in partners announced new integrations with TMW products.